Drag-line-bucket apparatus



Patented 8, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- JQZI QQZ Q W. L. THOMPSON DRAG LINE BUCKET APPARATUS.

APPLICATION man oc'r. n. ma.

w. L. .THOMPSON DRAG LINE B UCKET APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. ll, 19H!- Patented Man s, 1921 2 SHEETS-SHEET} UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAIM L. THOMPSON, OF GREENVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, ASSIGNOB TO FREDERICK c,

AUSTIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRAG-LINE-BUCKET APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

Application filed October 11, 1918. Serial No. 257,689.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM L. THOMP- SGN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Greenville, Mississippi, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Drag-Line-Bucket A pparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to excavators or derricks or cranes of the kind in which a bucket or other carrying means in loaded by a dragging movement, thereafter raised or hoisted, and then carried to the dumping point.

The principal object of the invention is to provide means to prevent the bucket or other device from swinging forward or outward while being dumped in raised position, thereby to adapt the excavator or other machine for use in loading wagons or cars, which is ordinarily impractical with some machines. such, for example, as an ordinary drag line excavator. and whereby the load may be dumped with greater accuracy and precision than heretofore.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and the desirability of a drag line excavator of the particular character shown and described.

To these and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a drag line excavator embodying the principles of the invention, showing the, front end of the body broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figs. 2, 3. and 4 the invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the invention comprises a body frame 1 mounted on a turntable 2 supported by the caterpillar truck 3, all of which may be of any suitable, known or approved construction. As the machine is a drag line excavator, it has the usual boom 4 which is pivoted at 5 on the body frame, whereby said boom can swing up and down and is also movable sidewise.

The drag line bucket 6 is of that well known form in which the bucket is open at its top and front end. and is pivoted at C to tilt about a horizontal axis, Said show different forms of pivots are supported by the lower ends of the chains or other flexible supports 8 and t), forming respectively front and rcarlift mg connections for the bucket, the front lifting connection 8 having a sheave 10 at its upper end, and the rear lifting connection having a sheave 11 at its upper end. The front connection 8 is also provided with a depending sheave 12 which supports the dumplng connection 13, the latter being connected to the front portion of the bucket at 14, and the other end of this connection being connected at 15 to the drag line 16, which latter leads to the usual winding drum 17 on the body frame. A chain or bail 18 connects the drag line to the pivotal points 19 at the mouth thereof. In this case, as shown in Fig. 1, the hoisting apparatus comprises a hoist line 20 which leads from the usual drum 21 to the sheave 22 on the boom, then downward and around the sheave 10, then upward and over the sheave 23 on the boom, then around the sheave 24 on the outer end of the boom, then under the sheave 11, and then to the point 25 where it is attached to the boom. It will be observed that the two sheaves 22 and 23 are arranged close together at a point some distance from the outer end of the boom, and with this arrangement the sheaves 10 and 11 each hang in a loop of the hoist line, and are drawn upward when the hoist line is wound upon its drum. By letting out the hoist line, the bucket is lowered to the ground, and it is then operated by the dragline 16in the usual or well known manner. In rising, and to prevent spilling of the load, a pull is maintained on the drag line 16. in a manner to maintain a pull on the dumping connection 13, so that the latter holds the mouth or front end of the bucket in raised position, thereby to maintain the bu ket in horizontal or carrying position. When the bucket is fully raised, as shown in Fig. 1, a loosening or letting out of the drag line 16 will relax the dumping connection 13 and thereby allow the front end of the bucket to tilt downward, while at the same time, of course, the bucket is held against swinging by the cooperation of the upwardly divergentlifting connections 8 and 9, so that it does not swing back and forth as is usual with a drag line bucket. Consequently, the construction shown and described enables the operator to accurately position the bucket directly over a wagon or over a car, and to V dump the load exactly where wanted,

" sheave atits upper end, but is connected directly to the end of the hoist line 20, so that the operation is substantially the same, e1 cept that the arrangement of the sheaves 1s different and involves one sheave less than 111 the construction shown in Fig. 1, so that connection 9 is supported only by a single portion of the line 20, and not by two portions forming a loop.

In Fig. 3 the construction is substantially the same as that previously described, but in this case the previously described sheave 22 is omitted, and a sheave 26 is mounted on the boom near the outer end. thereof. The hoist line 20 extends from its drum directly to the sheave 24 and then downward and around the sheave 11 and upward and over the sheave 26, then overthe sheave 23, then under the sheave l0, and then hasiits end fastened at 27 directly to the boom. With this arrangement, the bucket is raised and -lowered in substantially the same manner, and is supported in two loops of the hoist line.

In Fig. 4 the arrangement of the sheaves on the.boom is like that shown in Fig. 3. but the front lifting connection 8 is not provided with. the sheave 10 previously described, but instead is connected directly to the end of the hoist line at 28, so that only the sheave 11 for the rear lifting connection hangs in a loopof the hoist line. With this arrangement the-bucket is arranged and ing around a sheave 30 which is connected to the outer end of the boom by a rod 3l,'

andaround sheaves 32 suitably arranged at the top of the body frame 1 previously described; and it will also be understood that this liftingconneo'tion for the boom can be operated by the winding drum mechanism in any suitable, known. or by any other means.

From the foregoing it will be seen that means are provided to steady the bucket of a drag line excavator when the bucketis being dumped, so that the machine can be used for loading materials into a wagon or into a car, previously explained, and whichis not practicable with the ordinary drag line excavator, for with theordinary construction the bucket necessarily swings a considerable distance outwardly or away from the body of the excavator while being dumped, and it would be very diflicult, if not or approvedmanner,

' known manner, is not interfered with or hampered in any way by the improvements constituting the invention.

Thus the connections 8 and 9 supplement ich other, either being sufficient to support the bucket, but the two being adapted to cooperate with each other for the purpose of steadying the bucket, and by this is meant, of course, that the bucket is prevented from suddenly swinging outward when the pull on the drag line 16 is released to dump the load. lVith only oneconnection, it will be seen that the releasing of the pull on the drag line will immediately permit the bucket to swing out-ward some distance, inasmuch as a pull is maintained on the drag line 16 to keep the bucket in carrying position, and. to keep itfrom spilling the load before it reaches the dumping point. It would be difficult, of course, under such circumstances,

"to gage the swing so that it would take the ncjing movement which would render it impossible, or at least impracticable, to use a drag line machine of this r loading wagons. lVitlthe construction shown and scribed, it will be seen that the bucket has iwo downwardly I converging supporting connections, which are in the nature of two chain bails for the bucket, and that both of these lifting connections aresup'ported general ch arac and hoistedby the single hoist line 20, so

20 are necessary for controlling the opera tion and raising of the bucket.

It is obvious, however, that this arrangement for supporting and steadying the drag line bucket can be changedor modified without departing from the spirit ofrthe invention.

Jacket and hold it against a sudden outward It willbe seen that the hoist line 20 is supported different points on the boom 1, in order to provide a plurality of depending portions of the line, there being a depending portion of the hoist line for each of the connections 8 and 9, but said hoist line extendingdirectly to a sheave on the boom before engaging any of the lifting connections of the bucket. asshown and described, the different points on the boom for supporting the hoist line, and for forming the depending portions thereof, are spaced apart a suitable cistance, or a distance sufficien to spread the connections 8 and 9 far enough apart to insure the stability of the bucket and to prevent it from swinging forward and backward during the dumping operation. The sheaves on the boom, hovever, can be spaced either more widely or closertogether, depending upon circumstances, as may be desired. Also, while two lifting connections are shown for the bucket, either one of which could serve alone as a lifting connection, it is obvious that any suitable number of connections can be employed for this purpose, whereby the drag line bucket apparatus is of the general type shown and described, but has the additional feature of being braced, so to speak, against forward and backward swinging movement by additional connection extending to the hoist line itself, so that the hoist line sustains the entire weight of the bucket, in the manner explained, and not only does so in a manner to prevent the bucket from swinging forward and backward during the dumping operation, but also in a manner to prevent the dumping of the load while the bucket is being raised from the ground.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is 2- 1. In a drag line excavator or other machine for hoisting materials, an elevated member, a bucket, a hoist line, means on said member to support said hoist line at diiferent points thereon, a front lifting connection from the hoist line to the bucket, a rear lifting connection between the bucket and the hoist line, so that the weight of the load is communicated through both of said connections to the hoist line, the two connections being separated a distance and thereby cooperating to steady and prevent from swinging forward and backward while the bucket being dumped, a drag line connected and arranged to pull the bucket along the ground for loading, and a dumping connection for the bucket.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said front connection having means to support said dumping connection, with one end of the dumping connection attached to the front end of the bucket, and said drag line being connected to the dumping connection, so that the bucket when hoisted is maintained in carrying position by a pull on the drag line, and whereby the bucket is dumped by letting out the drag line.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means including sheaves spaced apart on said member to cause said front and rear connections to converge downwardly to the bucket, and a sheave on the front connection to support the dumping connection, at least one of said front and rear connections having a sheave to engage the hoist line.

a. A structure as specified in claim 1, said member comprising a boom mounted to swing up and down and sidewise, and said means including a plurality of sheaves disposed at three points along the outer portion of said boom, with a loop formed in said hoist line by two of said sheaves, the third sheave supporting the end portion of the hoist line, and one of said front and rear connections having a sheave supported in said looo and the other of these two con nections being connected to said end portion of the hoist line.

5. In a drag line bucket excavator, or other machine for hoisting materials, the combination of a bucket, a drag line to pull the bucket along the ground, upwardly divergent lifting connections for the bucket, cooperating to steady and prevent the bucket from. swinging forward and backward while the bucket being dumped, a single hoist line for operating both of said connections to lift the bucket, a dumping connection for the bucket, and means to both support and operate said lifting connections.

6. A structure as specified in claim 5, and means on one of said lifting connections to support said dumping connection, with one end of the dumping connection attached to the front of the bucket and the other end attached to the drag line, so that the dump ing operation is controlled by the drag line,

7. A structure as specified in claim 5, said means including a single line having a depending portion for each of said lifting connections, two sheaves to support one of said depending portions, and a single sheave to support the other of these two portions.

8. A structure as specified in claim 5, having a laterally swinging boom for said supporting and operating means.

9. In hoisting apparatus, a bucket to carry materials, hoisting means, a supplemental lifting connection controlled by said hoisting means and disposed in position to keep the bucket steady and prevent forward and backward swinging motion thereof, so that the load may be accurately dumped at the desired point, and means to eifect the dumping operation.

10. A structure as specified in claim 9, having a drag line to pull the bucket along the ground and forming part of said means.

11. In. an excavator, the combination of a bucket, a drag line for operating said bucket along the ground, a plurality of supporting connections for said bucket, a single hoist line for supporting and lifting said connections, means for operating said hoist line to raise the bucket from the ground, and a support. having means disposed at different points thereon for supporting said hoist line to provide a depending portion thereof for each supporting connection, said lifting connections being spaced apart and disposed in position to prevent forward and backward swinging movement of the bucket when raised into dumping position.

12. A structure as specified in claim 11, said supporting connections comprising a front bail and a rear bailconverging clownwardly to a common pivotal point on the bucket, at least one of said bails being supported by a sheave which engages the hoistline. 1

13. A structure as specified in claim 11, in combination with means controlled by the drag line to keep the bucket in carrying position While being raised from the ground, said bucket being adapted to tilt by gravity into dumping position when the pull on the drag line is relaxed or slackened.

14. A structure as specified in claim 1.1, in combination with a Winding drum for operating said hoist line, and a winding drum for operating said drag line, the operating and raising and'lowering of the-bucket be ing controlled entirely by said drums through the medium of said hoist line and said drag line.

15. In an excavator, the combination of a bucket, a drag line for operating said bucket along the ground, a hoist line, a winding drum for operating said drag line, a winding drum for operating said hoist line, means controlled by the drag line to retain the bucket in carrying position-when hoisted from the ground, whereby the bucket is free to tilt into dumping position when the pull on the drag line is' relaxed or slackened, elements arranged to support the bucket and extending in directions to prevent swinging forward and backward movement thereof while in dumping position, and means to support said elements on the hoist line.

16. In an excavator, the combination of a boom, a bucket for carrying a load, a hoist line, means on the boom to form a plurality of depending portions of said hoist line, and means to connect these depending portions with the bucket at different angles to prevent the bucket from swinging forward and backward during the dumping of the load therefrom, together with a drag line, and means controlled by the drag line to control the dumping of the load from the bucket.

WILLIAM L. THOMPSON. 

